Frankenstein, One Battle After Another and Fantastic Four: First Steps won best film at the 30th Annual Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800) Excellence in Production Design Awards.
The awards ceremony was held Saturday night at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.
Winning television shows include “Andor,” “Severance” and “The Studio.”
The event celebrated the visionary production design teams behind some of the year’s most visually ambitious films, television series, and music projects, recognizing outstanding achievements in the art of cinematic and episodic worldbuilding.
Martin also won his second award for his work on Prada’s “Galleria Bag” commercial.
With Oscar voting now open, Deverell and Martin are both nominated in the Production Design category. Other nominated films include Hamnet (Production Design: Fiona Crombie, Set Decoration: Alice Felton);
“Marty Supreme” (Production Design: Jack Fisk, Set Decoration: Adam Willis) and “The Sinners” (Production Design: Hannah Beeler, Set Decoration: Monique Champagne).
“Kpop Demon Hunters” continued its winning streak, winning the ADG Award for Best Animated Feature. Last week, the film won 10 Annie Awards, including Best Feature, and three Visual Effects Association trophies. It also won a Producers Guild Award.
The Guild tonight presented a special honor to filmmaker Jon M. Chu, who won the Motion Picture Award. Congresswoman Laura Friedman (D-CA) was presented with a set of presidential awards. Production designer Thomas E. Sanders (Saving Private Ryan and Bram Stoker’s Dracula) was posthumously inducted into the ADG Hall of Fame. The guild awarded four lifetime achievement awards. Winners include set designer and art director Jan Engel; production designer Beau Welch; production designer Tom Southwell and set artist Stephen McNally;
Welch, known for films such as Men in Black, The Birdcage and Beetlejuice, said he dedicated the award to “my brilliant and beautiful wife, Catherine O’Hara, and my sons, Matthew and Luke. They all inspire me every day and are the greatest accomplishments of my life.” O’Hara, who was married to Welch, died last month at her home in Los Angeles.
In his speech, Friedman vowed to protect the film and television industry. Friedman, who has fought for national film credit, began his speech by talking about how movies represent America to the world. “That’s why people immigrated here in the first place. That’s why people in other countries who don’t have that freedom understand what it means for their lives and the lives of their children. So your actions certainly touch people.”
Ms. Friedman stopped reading from the teleprompter and told the room that she was speaking from the heart. She said, “We’re going to end the national film tax credit because Hollywood is worth fighting for. The film industry is worth fighting for.”
She said, “I will protect this industry. I will protect it from moving production overseas. I will protect it as much as possible from corporate consolidation. I will absolutely protect it from AI taking away artists’ jobs.” Friedman continued, “We’re going to fight for this tax credit in Georgia, in New York, in New Jersey, across this country, because America thrives when we have a strong film and television industry. That’s why we’re going to keep working on this tax credit. We strongly believe we can get it done for you.”
Chu was lamenting the end of his “evil” journey. Upon accepting the award, he said: “Have you ever put so much love into something like true love that you never wanted it to end in such a way that it physically hurts to the point where you’re sick to your stomach thinking about your life without it?” He said, “That’s where I am right now with ‘Wicked.'” For me, this is what it feels like to say goodbye to ‘Wicked,’ because this may be one of the last times I get to celebrate this movie. ” He talked about the craft of production design and called out the people he has worked with throughout his career, from Nelson Coates (“In the Heights”) to Nathan Crowley (“Wicked”). Chu said filmmaking is “an exercise in empathy that has been embedded in our culture for generations, and design is the enabler of that. It is the official language of this connection.” He sat in a room of production designers and set decorators and said, “I think you guys are more than just designers. I think you’re explorers.”
The complete list of 30th ADG Award winners is below.
Feature film nominations:
period drama movie
“Frankenstein”
Production Designer: Tamara Deverell
fantasy feature film
“Fantastic Four: First Steps”
Production designer: Kasra Farahani
modern feature film
“One battle after another”
Production designer: Florencia Martin
animated feature film
“KPop Demon Hunters”
Production Designer: Mingjue Helen Chen, Dave Breech
Nominated works in the television category:
1 hour single camera series
Palm Royale: “Maxine is drinking a martini now”, “Maxine is meandering”
Production designer: John Carlos
1 hour fantasy single camera series
Andor: “Who are you?”
Production designer: Luke Hull
1 hour modern single camera series
Dismissal: “Chikai Bardo”
Production designer: Jeremy Hindle
TV movie or limited series
Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Production Designer: Matthew Flood Ferguson
30 hour single camera series
Studio: “The Note”
Production designer: Julie Berghoff
multi camera series
Mid-Century Modern: “Goodbye, George”
Production designer: Glenda Rovero
variety or reality series
Saturday Night Live: “Lady Gaga Host”
Production Designer: Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, N. Joseph De Tullio, Andrea Purcigliotti
variety special
SNL50: Anniversary Special
Production Designer: Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, N. Joseph de Tullio
commercial
Prada: “Galleria Bag”
Production designer: Florencia Martin
Short format and music videos
Apple – Someday by Spike Jonze: “AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation”
Production Designer: Shane Valentino
